Hello, ITalkToSky here.

I had the draft of this idea lying around and decided to finish this to procrastinate from my dissertation writing. I know. Priority, right? Cleaning this took a bit of time.

The premise for this is very simple. In a freak accident, Tabitha somehow got a voice-only connection with the people from Touhou side. There won't be any portal shenanigans until later. For now, it will just be Tabitha making the best use of the totally heretical knowledge from Gensokyo to save her mother.

I don't know. Maybe after I finish all the little plot bunnies that I have, I might just go back to my one true love that is Tcos.

00000

Across the cloudless canvas framed with twinkling stars, the twin moons displayed their splendor. Both full and perfect, they bathed the world in azure twilight. It was these nights that so many artists sought to capture on a canvas.

The petite figure on the bed spared not a glance at the captivating sight outside her window. Instead, the girl's blue eyes behind her glasses remained transfixed on the words illuminated by moonlight. To Tabitha, the pages were far more mesmerizing. A tale from another place and another time, far from the gloomy reality.

It had been weeks since she arrived in Tristain. Farther north than any part of Gallia, she could still feel the bite of winter even in the middle of spring. Of course, the chill never bothered her. In fact, it reassured her. The change in weather was undeniable proof of the distance between her and her tormentor. Being sent to study at one of the most prestigious schools of magic in Halkeginia was merely a thinly veiled exile. But to her, it was a respite.

Life as a student was hardly any different from her usual routine. Being at a specific place at a specific time, doing whatever her station demanded, and reading whenever she could get away with. One notable difference that she appreciated was the fact that her chain was not tugged every other day. Without the constant reminder, her mental capacity was freed for something she enjoyed.

Clank.

Despite being engrossed in her latest book then so brutally interrupted, her face remained impassive. It was as if her ice magic froze even her own expression, stuck perpetually in a look of disinterest.

Clank.

The clanging got louder, more frequent and incessant. The clanks soon became a torturous bang of metal on metal. Her lips pursed ever so slightly. Perhaps, one of the students decided to move their luggage around, anyone sleeping be damned. Tabitha reached for her wooden staff. The rough waxed surface felt familiar to her touch. She tapped the wall lightly twice. Expecting the sound to stop, her eyes dipped back to her reading.

Clank. Clank.

Tabitha's eyes snapped back up, wide open. Without a doubt, her spell activated properly. She should not hear anything. But the clanging continued. More alarmingly, she realized that the sound seemingly came from everywhere at once. Like it was within her own skull. Tabitha shivered like a willow in the wind.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The book in her hands dipped as Tabitha shrunk in on herself, trying to make herself as small as possible. Then, as if whatever making that sound had finally found her, she heard a harsh, snarling voice of a man in an unfamiliar tongue.

"Eeep!"

All noises ceased. In that moment, Tabitha prayed that her spell had worked. That the noise was from a room next to her and her spell was merely delayed. No such luck.

The voice said something else, but she knew no more. Tabitha collapsed on her bed with a loud thud, fainted.

By the time Tabitha came to, sunlight cascaded through the window. Her eyes were blank for a moment before clarity returned to them. Along with it came terror. She jolted upright and bolted toward her wardrobe. Her nightgown thrown haphazardly on the floor in her haste, she dressed faster than she ever did in her life.

Tabitha was out the threshold with her cape in one hand, not having the mind to put it on properly, and her staff in another. Supposedly, ghosts could not manifest in the light of day. Not that she dared to test such a notion.

As if to prove her fear, the voice began again in that strange tongue, utterly dissimilar to any language of Halkeginia.

Tabitha slammed the door hard. Clutching her staff in a death grip, she scrambled down the corridor toward the stairwell, eager to get away from the seemingly haunted room as fast as possible. Then, seemingly realized something, she stopped, flung the nearest window open and leapt out.

Her assigned room was many stories above ground, but that was hardly an issue for a wind mage like her. With practiced ease, a last second levitation spell broke her fall. Tabitha landed without breaking a stride and whirled back to eye the building apprehensively. Ghosts should not be able to follow her into the blinding sunlight.

Before that last thought even finished, she heard the voice again. The previously frustrated snarl from earlier night was much more mellow. Of course, she hardly possessed the composure to notice such a minute detail. Blood drained from Tabitha's face, which impressively managed to remain somewhat impassive. A realization crossed her mind along with growing terror.

Not only did the ghosts care little about daylight, but it followed her from the room. Feeling faint, Tabitha stumbled on her rear. Tabitha heard the voice again. This time, she could clearly hear that it was from a man.

"Don't," Tabitha said, followed by a squeak unbefitting of a Chevalier under Gallian Crown. "L-leave. Just go away."

The voice answered her with incomprehensible words. Still as close as ever, it clearly had no intention of complying.

"I-I don't know what you want but go away." Tabitha grasped at the straw. What could the spirit of the dead want? Perhaps, it was one of the students. Was it murder or suicide? What unfinished business did it have? Was this the language of the dead? Thoughts jumbled in her mind.

"Please, Mr. Ghost, please go away."

Then came words that Tabitha could understand. "French? Who speaks French even?"

"F-French?"

What infernal force compelled her to repeat that unfamiliar word, Tabitha did not know. A fresh wave of regret and terror washed over her.

"Huh?"

"…"

"C-can you hear me?"

"…Y-yes." At this point, her mind was fried. Of course, she answered the whisper of the damned, especially when it seemed to have no clue she could hear it. Not anymore.

"Fascinating," the voice mumbled to itself before raising a pitch. "Are you alright? You sound distressed?"

"F-fine."

"You sure? I thought I heard a ghost attacking you?"

"…"

"Was it, perhaps, me?"

"…Un."

Silence reigned. It went on to the point that Tabitha wondered whether the ghost decided to leave her alone after all. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, the voice came back. It snickered. The snicker soon grew into full-blown laughter.

"Sorry for frightening you, young lady. I assure you. I am still very much alive."

Tabitha's thought began to churn. If it could be taken at face value, then this was not a ghost but a person. While she could not detect the telltale signature of wind magic, the disembodied voice seemed like some long-range communication spell. This person was contacting her for some reason. Her eyes hardened. This she could deal with.

Was that it then? Was this her new handler? Did that monster of a man finally deign it beneath him to deal with her himself?

Tabitha pressed down her emotion and let her reason reassert itself. This was not the time to show weakness.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Lunaire Vivian Meister. You may refer to me simply as Lunaire. I am a magician under the employment of Remilia Scarlet. To whom am I addressing?"

"Remilia Scarlet?" Tabitha mouthed the name. It was an unfamiliar one. She memorized all the names of Gallian and foreign nobility down to viscount level, which was odd. Generally, barons and lower did not have the means to keep other mage under their employ. Even the fallen noble had a little more pride and ambition than to work for them.

"Yes, the lady of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Are you familiar?"

"No." Tabitha had never heard of such a mansion. In the first place, who in their right mind would name their estate with such an inauspicious name.

"Very well. So, to whom am I addressing?"

"Tabitha."

"Alright then, Tabitha. Before anything, I must ask you. Does the word Gensokyo mean anything to you? French is not exactly common around this part."

Fortunately, Tabitha's fear seemed unfounded. This man was not related to Joseph. Even if he was not familiar with her voice, the name Tabitha would mean something to him. Also in Gallian code word, there was nothing so unusual as Gensokyo nor French. Tabitha would know. She read the codebook front to back.

"French?"

"Yeah, the language you are speaking, no?"

"I am speaking Gallian?"

"…Are you sure you are not saying French but calling it different?"

"I am speaking Gallian."

"Hmm, curious. Then I assume you don't know anything about Gensokyo."

"No."

"Well, you are somewhere far away then."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why have you contacted me?"

"It is a little embarrassing to admit. I did not expect this either. You see. Grossly simplifying it, I was creating a divination tool of sort to help me peer into the possible future. Something went horribly wrong, and I thought it destroyed itself. Evidently though, it seems to have opened a line of communication with you."

"How?"

"No clue. I expect this thing to either work or be a brick, not do something completely differently as connecting with some random person in France."

Again, that word, Tabitha thought. It seemed to denote a place and a language. But Gallia and Gallian were never referred to at any point in the history as France and French.

"You are a magician, right?"

"Mage."

"Whew, bullet dodged." Lunaire sounded relieved. "With that out of the way, if you don't mind me asking, is the connection anchored to a location or to you?"

"…" Tabitha answered with a quizzical look, meaning a perfectly blank face as always.

"…Uh, hello?"

"Don't understand."

"Is my voice originating from a place? Like in a certain room? Or is it in your head or following you around?"

"Latter."

"I see. That makes this a little uncomfortable." Lunaire cleared his throat. "Tabitha, I have a favor to ask you."

Tabitha was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Lunaire created the connection by accident, assuming his words were true. But it was by no accident that he maintained it after finding out. There was something he wanted from her.

"Is it possible if I keep this thing up for a while longer? I want to know how exactly this mess came to be. Like, there is messing up and then there is this. The spell formation is…oh boy, I don't even know where to start untangling it."

"…"

"It is true that I can hear what is going on around you. I heard not only your voice, but also the door slamming close if I guessed correctly. So, you might feel uncomfortable with someone hearing you. However, is it possible to work out an arrangement that will respect your privacy? I can restrict my study time to whenever you are asleep or something, so that I don't overhear something I am not supposed to."

There was a tough decision to make.

Privacy was a privilege that Tabitha was hardly afforded. Due to her specific circumstances, she was more strictly monitored than any other agent of the crown. They wanted to catch her slipping up. She would have gone mad much earlier if she hadn't gotten used to the discomfort of being watched.

There was no issue about intelligence leak either. If this Lunaire was to overhear something that might compromise the interest of Gallian Crown and make use of it, all the more power to him. If even a triangle class mage like her could not detect it, she doubted anyone would notice and be able to pin the leak on her.

And then there was the final point of whether she could stop Lunaire from keeping the connection open anyway. She could not even sense the spell, let alone shut it down. A smart choice would be to extract any concession offered.

"A favor."

"Hmm, a favor for a favor, you mean?"

"Un."

"Not unreasonable, but I would like to hear what it is. I have been around long enough to not leave a vague favor hanging."

Tabitha pressed her lips tightly. She had been wishing for exactly that, leaving the matter hanging for a bit to see if she could trust this thing or person. She could hardly begrudge him though. She would have done the same thing. Making vague promise was simply waiting for the other shoes to drop. Taking in a deep breath, she prayed to the Founder that she would not come to regret this.

"Poison, what do you know?"

"Are you looking to…kill someone? Because I am glad that I asked. No, I will not be an accessory to murder."

"Antidote. Poisoned."

"You?" The voice returned incredulously.

"Another."

"Still urgent, gee. How much time do we have left before the poison kill them?"

"Stable…for now."

Silence followed. Tabitha appreciated that as it allowed a moment of haul herself off her bottom and into the shade. As she brushed grass and debris off her skirt, she heard the man's voice again.

"One does not simply treat a case of poisoning over the phone."

"…A phone?"

"Meant remotely, without even examining the patient," a frustrated groan was heard. "Do you know the name of the poison?"

"Don't know, elven poison."

"Elven? I hate to break it to you, Tabitha. While we have a terrific doctor that likely can deal with it, the issue remains that she cannot make diagnostic and prescribe treatments without seeing the patient. Just blindly guessing is more likely to kill rather than cure."

"But I can describe the…"

The voice did not wait for Tabitha to finish. "Do you know how to measure heart rate, blood pressure, mana output, mana tolerance, locate mana pathway obstruction? What do you know about immunology? And since you will need to be concocting the medicine on the other side, what about alchemy and pharmacology?"

Tabitha ground her teeth. Heat welled up in her heart. She wanted to scream. How long had it been? How many years had she been chasing after empty leads. How many libraries did she scour just for a glimpse of knowledge of her hated foe. For a poison concocted just beyond the border of Galia, no scholars in this damnable continent got any clue about the antidote. Not even Romalia, proclaimed to be the bulwark against the heathen Elves, had the cure.

Then came this glimpse of hope, only to be snuffed out in the most infuriating way. It was not that this Lunaire had no way. He did not even hesitate at the mention of Elven poison. Of course, there was a chance that his confidence in this doctor was misplaced, but it was the closest shot. But that wish was cruelly snatched beyond her grasp.

"For you to be well-trained enough to pass along any actionable information, your patient would have kicked the bucket long before then."

"She will be alive." Tabitha yelled. "She has been alive for so many years. She…she can't. She can't die…no. She won't."

"It isn't the poison meant to kill, is it?"

"…"

"What flavor is it? Sleep, debilitation, agony, madness?"

"Is there a way?"

"Well, if it is a poison meant to take someone out of the picture without killing them, you generally have time. On the flip side, it is much harder to solve or else there is no point."

"You said I can be trained. There is time. Whatever it takes, I will do it."

"Have you any idea," Lunaire clicked his tongue. "How much time is needed to train a physician, even a half-baked one? Any idea how much of a commitment that is?"

Tabitha's mind churned for anything she could offer. Lunaire possessed a last name and magic, so it was very likely for him to be a fallen noble. Thinking that, her shoulders trembled. There was little that such a man would want from her, a girl who could not even protect the dukedom that was her birthright.

"There is nothing I want from your end." Tabitha already figured that out. But hearing it was like a hammer to her chest. "I am already being considerate enough when you don't even have to lift a finger. Give me a more acceptable offer."

Then it clicked.

"A scribe," Tabitha began. Despite her withdrawn nature, she forced words from her lips. There was no room for failure. "If the issue is your effort, then have a scribe read to me."

And thus, the pact was struck. In a desperate bid to save her dearest mother, Tabitha never realized then that her decision changed the course of not just her life but also of the continent.

00000

And there it is.

Yes, in canon, Tabitha indeed is afraid of ghosts to the point of fainting. The draft wanted to make this a funny moment, but I feel that she should genuinely be scared to hear a disembodied voice out of nowhere.

The other part should be cleaned up before long. There should be about 3 parts total.